Free Agency/Finances

CBJackets · Guru

Free Agency/Finances

VanIslander · Guru

CBJackets wrote:

Basically what I'm hoping is that the "rebuilding" teams aren't going to make a whack of money and be able to add a whack of key free agents after they've sucked bigtime in season 1..

That's the reality.

It's not about how much money they make, it's about how much CAP ROOM they have. And they will have tons.

CBJackets · Guru

Well, it shouldn't be the reality. The best FA system is one that uses bonuses, where you need to pay cold hard cash to sign UFAs and a smaller fee to re-sign RFAs.

If that's not the case, money made in the league just plain doesn't matter. If I can sign players up to my cap limit without having the money I made the past season matter, then what does it matter if I made 1 dollar or a billion.

VanIslander · Guru

CBJackets wrote:

what does it matter if I made 1 dollar or a billion.

Uh, you get FIRED if you can't at least balance the books and break even. A profit is desired but a big net loss financially is what costs a g.m. his job, and many sim leagues mirror reality by firing g.m.s who can't at least break even.

CBJackets · Guru

Uh, do you really see a team starting with 10 mil dropping below zero, there's no chance of that ever happening.

Money doesn't matter in the league if you can just sign up to your cap limit and that's that. There needs to be a system in place where money made counts towards signing UFAs and RFAs.

Hawks_G · Guru

I am 100% with Matt on this.

The sim doesn't take into account enough that teams with no stars, no wins means no fans.

So teams at the floor should never be making a huge profit....but we shall see.

VanIslander · Guru

Hawks_G wrote:

The sim doesn't take into account enough that teams with no stars, no wins means no fans.

Attendance is very much affected by win-loss record and number of topend stars on a team, and income from attendance is significant!

Doesn't matter to me. But one would think a team that suffers this season, and shows financial restraint, should be in a better position to open the wallet next season!! Stands to reason and balances things out karmic like.

VanIslander · Guru

Throw some special extra twists into this sim league.

But in all sim leagues I've known:

1) salary cap dictates UFA signing ability

2) finances dictate whether a g.m. keeps his job.

Some NHL owners have deep pockets, some don't. The cap is only reliable REALISTIC indicator of ability to sign UFA.

CBJackets · Guru

Well as I said if the only thing you use for UFA signing ability is cap room, money makes absolutely no difference in the league. I mean why should a team full of young cheap players automatically get to sign up to the cap ceiling, if they didn't make money and sucked the previous season.

Sabres · Guru

I don't quite get why you think this is unfair? Yes the team will suffer for the year that they suck and struggle to make money, but that doesnt mean tthey can't sign a few key UFAs? Thats like saying the Bruins couldnt sign Chara and Savard because they were in the botttom 5 in the league.

I dont quite get your point. It kind of just seemed like to best strategy for the draft, being don't draft players who's contracts are up and stay cheap so you can just sign UFAS.

CBJackets · Guru

Sabres wrote:

I don't quite get why you think this is unfair? Yes the team will suffer for the year that they suck and struggle to make money, but that doesnt mean tthey can't sign a few key UFAs? Thats like saying the Bruins couldnt sign Chara and Savard because they were in the botttom 5 in the league.

I dont quite get your point. It kind of just seemed like to best strategy for the draft, being don't draft players who's contracts are up and stay cheap so you can just sign UFAS.

Because you should have to have money to sign UFAs, not just have cap room. Like I said, then what does money matter? What incentive is there for teams to go deep into the playoffs and make money. There would be none.

I am making the distinction between a few key UFAs and just automatically having the cap room and being able to sign say, 5 UFAs at 7 mil each.

VanIslander · Guru

We have TAGs to hold onto a 77+ OV UFA and a 70-76 OV UFA.

If a team has a third star old player they need to let go as a UFA, then that's the cost of their management strategy.

But Columbus does in a way raise the question: What are the consequences of financial mismanagement? This applies as much to the salary-bloated nonplayoff teams as to the youth-laden clubs.

CBJackets · Guru

Also, without money playing a role, how are we to determine what UFAs sign where?

There are probably 30 teams who, next offseason, could fit an 8 million dollar player (the max) on to their team. What says which players sign where?

-- Edited by CBJackets at 03:12, 2006-08-27

Florida Panthers · Senior Member

personally, the one thing that I really don't like about this league (and that may sound blunt, but I'm not gonna sugar coat this one) is that someone can be as fiscally irresponsible as they want with your team because as the rules clearly state, they can "buy" more league money and there is no limit on the amount they can buy, and then there's always articles as well. Article writing I have less of an objection to because it can demonstrate a reward for someone demonstrating participation in the league, although i do think the amounts for the article writing are far too high.

VanIslander · Guru

There is a difference between an interview-based report and an off-the-cuff opinion piece. One takes coordination and time the other takes a big mouth and itchy fingers.

We have not had many that should qualify for funds.